In an increasingly fast-paced world, people encounter overwhelming amounts of stress on a daily basis. Almost everybody experiences some form of stress related to work, finances, relationships or everyday life, but for the majority of people, the full magnitude of stress’s effects on the body remain unknown. While a certain amount of stress is beneficial, providing us with the motivation to meet deadlines, problem solve, and obtain one’s goals, too much stress leads to chronic stress, which contributes negatively to physical and mental health, and ultimately renders the body susceptible to chronic illnesses.
Chronic stress, ultimately, can suppress the immune system, disrupt sleep, cause gastrointestinal issues, and increase one’s risk of developing various chronic illnesses such as coronary artery disease (CAD) and depression. Once you know how stress affects your body, you can begin to work towards effectively managing stress. In this article, we will be discussing what stress does to your body, why there are negative health implications associated with chronic stress, and some practical ways to reduce stress for better overall health.
Recognizing Stress in your Body
The stress response system is built into everyone’s body as a self-preservation mechanism. Your brain interprets something as threatening and/or challenging, and sends out the “fight or flight” response.
During this response, the body releases hormones that prepare you to react quickly (for example, increased heart rate, increased ability to focus, and energy boost) through cortisol or epinephrine.
In the past, the body used this mechanism to run from predators; today, stress/results come from life/career obstacles; not predators. Stressors usually last a lot longer than the physical threats our body was built to handle, therefore stress impacts your body systems negatively.
How Stress Affects the Body
1. The Brain and Mental Wellbeing
Long-term Addressed Stress has huge potential to alter how your brain operates. When high levels of corisol are sustained for lengthy periods, it will make it more difficult to concentrate, remember stuff from yesterday and make sound judgments. Oftentimes, people who have long lived with constant stress report that they have a difficult time concentrating, have much more frequent memory losses and experience constant tiredness (mental exhaustion).
Along with affecting the cognitive pathways in your brain prolonged stress also impacts your emotional state. This is usually accompanised with increased mood swings, discontent and anxiety. Studies have also shown people who have had prolonged exposure to stress are at greater risk of developing a depression disorder and anxiety disorder.
As the brain and body are connected, and emotional stress will often translate into a physical issue which may include headaches, fatigue and tension in your muscles.
2. Heart & Circulatory Health
Stress impacts our cardiovascular systems. The release of stress hormones will lead to faster heart rates and/or increases in blood pressure.
This is necessary for our body to respond quickly in emergencies. However, recurring or long-lasting forms of stress create pressure on our cardiovascular systems.
Many cardiovascular diseases and disorders can be caused by long-term exposure to stress. For example, hypertension (high blood pressure), the risk of developing coronary artery disease, and the risk of having a stroke are all related to prolonged exposure to stress.
Studies show that individuals who have experienced high levels of stress daily for an extended period of time are significantly more likely to develop heart disease over time.
As such, managing stress is an important part of overall heart health.
3. The Immune System
Stress can boost the immune system in the short term when the body prepares to deal with injury or illness. In contrast, chronic stress individuals who are continually experiencing stress have an immune system that is not as capable.
When people who are under long-term stress are gradually depleting their immune systems, their ability to fight the infection becomes increasingly compromised.
Some examples include:
- Increasing the chances of contracting an illness
- Taking significantly longer to recover from an illness or injury
- Experiencing a higher rate of getting colds
A good way to envision this is by relating it to a car engine continually running at its highest speed – over time this engine will become exhausted. Therefore, a similar event occurs to the immune system when continuously under stress.
4. Digestive Health | Stress Affects Our Digestion
Stress will often impair digestion due to how interrelated the brain and gut are, which is often referred to as the “Gut-Brain Axis.” Therefore, emotional stress will also have an effect on digestion.
Stress may also increase the level of stomach acid produced in your body and alter the level of bacteria in your stomach.
Digestive stress can lead to:
- Discomfort or acid reflux
- Increased or decreased appetite
- Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS)
- Digestive Issues
Increased stress often results in an increase in the amount of food consumed, or a total decrease in the amount of food consumed. Both ways can disrupt the ability to properly digest food and get nutrients.
Since the gut is a significant part of the immune system and the body as a whole; therefore, prolonged stress within the digestive system can negatively affect you in many areas.
5. Stress can cause a person to gain weight, particularly around their stomach.
When someone suffers from chronic stress, their body produces higher levels of cortisol, which causes them to want to eat more and store fat differently.
People who are stressed also tend to:
- Crave high-fat/high-sugar foods
- Have slower metabolisms
- Store more fat in their abdomen
Sleep less well, which messes with hunger hormones.
When someone does not sleep well, their body produces hunger hormones, so they will feel hungrier and not as full at the same time, which is why stress-related weight gain is so prevalent.
Practical Ways to Reduce Stress
While stress cannot be completely eliminated, there are many scientifically supported strategies that can help reduce its impact on the body.
1. two-minute pause
The most simple way to calm your body down is by practice with controlled breathing through your nasally-directed breath control, as well as pausing very briefly before you exhale after taking deep breaths in; this practice activates the vagal nerve, which will help activate your Holy Spirit.
The two-minute breathing exercise will:
- reduce heart rate;
- decrease the level of cortisol in the body;
- calm the nervous system.
This technique can be used on an ongoing basis to reset your body’s reaction to stress when experiencing a stressful episode.
2. Physical Benefits of Regular Exercise
Exercise is an effective way to relieve stress, as there are many benefits of exercising regularly, including decreasing stress hormones and increasing natural mood-boosting chemicals called endorphins.
Exercise doesn’t have to be intense; even participating in moderate amounts of exercise can lead to lower stress levels after a single session of 10 minutes walking.
Routine exercise can also result in improvements in your sleep patterns, increased energy, and greater mental clarity.
3. Identifying and Reducing Your Stressors
You might not know it, but you might be doing things in your daily routine to increase your stress without even realising it. Recognising when these behaviours occur will allow you an opportunity for change which makes for a large impact on your total wellness.
Some examples of things that increase stress are:
- High levels of caffeine
- Excessive screen time in the evening
- Omitting meals
- Taking on too much responsibility
You’ve probably realised if you make small changes to your daily behaviour you can have a substantial impact on reducing your daily stress levels.
4. Mindful and Journal Use
Mindfulness activities, like meditation and journaling, can help an individual to understand their feelings and thoughts better.
The act of writing down one’s fears/worries/concerns can help a person to organize their thoughts thus making their problems easier to manage. By identifying particular problems or challenges and coming up with possible solutions, a person is often able to gain some measure of control in their life.
Research has shown that engaging in regular mindfulness practice can reduce anxiety levels and improve one’s ability to regulate their emotions.
5. Building Social Relationships
Man is a social creature. Having time with family or friends or coworkers who support you are huge contributors to lowering stress levels.
Even talking with a person you trust for just a few minutes can reduce the amount of cortisol your body produces thereby increasing your emotional strength.
Talking to others about your worries or problems will usually lessen the burden of those worries or problems and as such will help a person to feel less stressed about them.
6. Sleep Habit – Improve Sleep Habits
Sleep and stress are highly related. Increased stress levels will, in return, create increased cortisol levels which can negatively affect your sleep.
Healthy sleeping habits break the stress/sleep cycle.
Helpful sleeping habits include:
- Maintaining a regular bedtime
- Limiting screen time before bedtime
- Taking a warm shower or bath before bed
- Reading or listening to relaxing music before bed
Quality sleep is important for both physical and mental health.
In Summary: Life Is Stressful, But You Don’t Have to Suffer
Stress will always exist in life and no one is immune. When chronic stress is present it can greatly affect our physical health and mental state. When we learn how our bodies respond to stress and use simple ways to manage it, we can start to protect our health and our mental state.
Even simple things like exercising regularly, improving our quality of sleep through good sleep habits, and practicing controlled breathing can have a profound impact on our health over time.
What Can I Do?
Beginning today, choose one small change that you can make in your life to reduce stress and make healthy choices.
You may choose to walk to work for 10 minutes, practice deep breathing for 5 minutes, or establish a bedtime routine you follow every night. The most important factor in managing stress is consistency.
By taking small steps and repeating them consistently, you can transform your health and improve the quality of your life.
